RIP Pink Plastic Flamingos

It seems that the plastic pink flamingo is going the way of the dodo. The plastic bird, a kitsch icon that has populated the front lawns of American homes since the 1950's, is about to become extinct.


Union Products of Leominister, Massachusetts, which has made the birds since 1957, is going out of business.


"The plant's pink flamingo will be an endangered species," says Dennis Plante, the company's president.


The moulded plastic sculpture mounted onwire legs has been reviled and revered on equal measure. The bird lent its name to director John Waters's 1972 fo;, examining bad taste. But that only helped to make the hapless bird more desirable.

"The pink flamingo has gone from a piece of the Florida boom and the Florida exotica to being a symbol of trash culture to now becoming a combination of all we know - kitsch, history, simplicity and elegance" Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University (as quoted by the Los Angeles Times).

"Let's face it," Mr Thompson continued, "as iconic emblems of kitsch, there are two pillars of cheesy companies in the American pantheon. One is the velvet Elvis. The other is the Pink Flamingo.

Dan Glaister Los Angeles
The Guardian